Aiden stared at the creature wearing Professor Blackwood's face, his mind racing to process what he'd just witnessed. The thing's smile stretched too wide, revealing teeth that belonged in a predator's mouth rather than a human's.
"What do you want from me?" Aiden asked, keeping his voice steady despite the pressure building behind his eyes.
"Want? Oh, my dear boy, this isn't about what I want. This is about what you need." Blackwood circled around the table like a shark sensing blood in the water. "The Eye of Truth is awakening inside you. Without proper guidance, it will burn you from the inside out within months."
The ancient texts were still spread across the table between them, their warnings about divine fragments destroying their hosts suddenly feeling much more personal.
"And you just happen to be an expert on divine artifacts?"
"I've been studying them for centuries. Hunting them, you might say." Blackwood's form flickered again, revealing glimpses of something with too many angles and shadows that moved independently of any light source. "Though I must admit, the Eye has been particularly elusive. It chooses its hosts so rarely, and they usually die before achieving their potential."
Centuries. The thing was ancient, possibly older than the academy itself. Aiden tried to use his enhanced perception to read its true intentions, but looking directly at it made the pressure in his skull spike painfully.
"What are you, really?"
"A scholar. A collector. Someone who appreciates the beauty of divine power in mortal hands." Blackwood's smile never wavered. "But more importantly, I'm someone who can teach you to survive what's happening to you."
"At what cost?"
"Always asking the right questions. That's encouraging - it means the Eye chose well." Blackwood finally stopped circling and leaned against the table. "The cost is simple. When you've mastered your power, when you've grown strong enough to reshape this pathetic institution, I want you to help me find the other fragments."
Other fragments. Aiden remembered the text mentioning the Hand of Creation, the Voice of Command. Divine body parts scattered across the world, each potentially awakening in some unsuspecting person.
"How many others are there?"
"Seven fragments in total. The Eye was the first to surface in centuries, which means the others won't be far behind. The divine essence calls to its scattered pieces." Blackwood's eyes gleamed with something that might have been hunger. "Together, they could remake the world entirely."
The creature's true agenda was becoming clearer. It didn't just want to help Aiden survive - it wanted to use him as a bloodhound to track down the other divine fragments. The question was whether Aiden would live long enough for that to matter.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because, my dear boy, you don't have any other options." Blackwood gestured at the restricted texts. "These books contain perhaps a tenth of what you need to know. The rest of the knowledge died with civilizations that fell millennia ago. Except for what lives in the memories of things like me."
As if to demonstrate, Blackwood placed his hand on one of the ancient texts. The pages began turning themselves, settling on a passage that definitely hadn't been there when Aiden was reading.
*The Eye of Truth sees beyond illusion to the fundamental nature of reality. In its early stages, it grants power over perception and memory. But as it awakens, it begins to impose its will directly upon the world. Truth becomes what the bearer declares it to be. Reality bends to accommodate divine sight.*
*Warning: The transition from perception to reality manipulation is the most dangerous phase. The mortal mind struggles to distinguish between what is real and what the Eye creates. Many hosts lose themselves entirely, becoming vessels for the fragment's will rather than its master.*
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Blackwood said conversationally. "Your little academy conflicts are just the beginning. Soon you'll be reshaping reality with a glance, and the question will be whether 'you' still exist to control that power."
Aiden felt a chill that had nothing to do with the underground archives' temperature. The pressure behind his eyes pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, and for a moment he could swear he heard something that might have been laughter from inside his own skull.
"How long do I have?"
"Before the transition begins? Weeks, perhaps months if you're careful about how often you use the power. Before it completes?" Blackwood shrugged. "That depends entirely on how quickly you learn to balance your human consciousness with the divine will."
"And if I don't learn fast enough?"
"Then the Eye finds a new host, and your body joins the long list of burned-out husks it's left behind over the millennia."
The matter-of-fact way the creature delivered this death sentence made Aiden's blood run cold. But alongside the fear, he felt something else stirring. The same defiant anger that had carried him this far, now mixed with the alien presence behind his eyes.
*I will not be consumed,* he thought fiercely. *I will master this power, whatever the cost.*
The pressure spiked approvingly, as if the divine fragment was pleased with his determination.
"Excellent," Blackwood said, though Aiden was certain he hadn't spoken aloud. "I can see the Eye's influence growing stronger already. Your thoughts are becoming more... expansive."
"You can read my mind?"
"Not exactly. But divine fragments create ripples in reality that certain entities can perceive. Your thoughts are beginning to carry weight beyond the merely mental."
Aiden stood abruptly, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the underground archive. The ancient texts seemed to be watching him now, their words shifting whenever he wasn't looking directly at them.
"I need time to think about this."
"Of course. But don't take too long - events are already in motion that will force your hand." Blackwood's form was stabilizing back into its human appearance, but the predatory smile remained. "Oh, and Cross? You might want to avoid mirrors for a while. The Eye is becoming more... visible."
As if summoned by his words, Aiden caught sight of his reflection in a glass bookcase. His eyes were definitely different now - darker than they should be, with silver flecks that seemed to move independently of his gaze. Anyone looking closely would notice the change.
By the time he turned back, Blackwood was gone, leaving only the scent of something that might have been sulfur and the feeling that he was being watched by invisible things.
Aiden gathered the ancient texts, using his influence on the librarian to check them out officially. If he was going to survive what was happening to him, he needed to understand everything he could about divine fragments and their effects on mortal hosts.
But as he climbed back toward the academy's upper levels, he couldn't shake the feeling that accepting Blackwood's help would be like making a deal with a devil. The creature clearly had its own agenda, and Aiden doubted it cared whether he survived the process as long as he served his purpose.
The question was whether he had any choice in the matter.
That evening, Aiden sat in his dormitory room, carefully reading through the texts he'd acquired. Jamie was at dinner, giving him privacy to study the increasingly disturbing information about divine fragment hosts.
*Case Study #1: The Hand of Creation, circa 1200 BCE. Host exhibited reality manipulation abilities for approximately six months before personality dissolution began. Final recorded act was the creation of a desert where a fertile valley had stood for millennia.*
*Case Study #2: The Voice of Command, circa 800 CE. Host demonstrated absolute authority over human wills but became increasingly isolated as the power grew. Found dead after apparently commanding their own heart to stop beating.*
*Case Study #3: The Eye of Truth, circa 1500 CE. Host showed remarkable adaptation to the fragment's influence, maintaining personality coherence for nearly two years. Disappeared during what witnesses described as a "rearrangement of local reality." Current status unknown.*
Every case study ended the same way - death, madness, or mysterious disappearance. The divine fragments were not gifts but curses that consumed their hosts from within.
Yet as Aiden read, the pressure behind his eyes pulsed with something that felt almost like amusement. The Eye wasn't concerned by these historical failures. It believed he would be different.
*You are stronger than they were,* whispered that alien voice in his thoughts. *You have already begun to blend human cunning with divine will. Together, we can transcend the limitations that destroyed the others.*
The voice was becoming clearer, more distinct from his own thoughts. Soon it would be impossible to tell where Aiden ended and the Eye began.
But for now, he was still himself. Still capable of making choices about how to use this terrifying power.
The question was what kind of choices he was willing to make to survive.